A cowboy protector from her past...

A McKade Law novel

Working her first case as deputy sheriff with her ex-boyfriend, Detective Cord Goodwin, Kendall McKade is determined to track the kidnappers—even if it makes her a target. Desperate to find the abducted victim, his aunt, Cord must keep Kendall safe…while also caring for his recently orphaned nephew. Teaming up threatens to rekindle Cord and Kendall’s relationship, but first they must solve a life-threatening mystery.

SUSAN SLEEMAN is a bestselling author of inspirational and clean-read romantic suspense books and mysteries. She received an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award for Thread of Suspicion. No Way Out and The Christmas Witness were finalists for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence. She’s had the pleasure of living in nine states and currently lives in Oregon. To learn more about Susan, visit her website at susansleeman.com.

Also By Susan Sleeman

McKade Law

Holiday Secrets

Rodeo Standoff

Christmas Hideout

Taken in Texas

First Responders

Silent Night Standoff

Explosive Alliance

High-Caliber Holiday

Emergency Response

Silent Sabotage

Christmas Conspiracy

The Justice Agency

Double Exposure

Dead Wrong

No Way Out

Thread of Suspicion

Dark Tide

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Taken in Texas

Susan Sleeman

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09490-0

TAKEN IN TEXAS

© 2019 Susan Sleeman

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

“Is there anything else I should know?” Kendall asked.

Cord shook his head. “At least not that I know of.”

She sat down. “Are you familiar enough with Eve’s belongings that you’d know if anything was missing?”

“You thinking a burglary gone wrong?”

“No. That wouldn’t explain why Eve is missing.”

Unless…

She didn’t say the word, but her expression declared, “Unless the intruder hurt Eve and got rid of her body, then felt free to search the house because he knew she wasn’t coming home.”

It took a callous person to hurt an older woman and then invade her home. Callous and dangerous, making it even more likely that the creep could come after Kendall, meaning Cord would now have a second job in Lost Creek.

Sure, he needed to find his aunt as much as he needed to breathe, but in addition to that, he would be watching Kendall’s back. Even if she balked at his every move.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading Taken in Texas. Wow, I can’t believe this is the last of the McKade family’s stories. Seems just like yesterday that I came up with the idea for this miniseries and now it is ending. I have loved every moment of writing about this family, and I hope you have enjoyed taking the journey with them.

In this story, Cord and his nephew Lucas have lost family members, and they are both struggling to figure out how to go on. This situation really hit home for me as both of my parents passed away within a year of each other, and I was devastated. I struggled for some time to come to grips with it. If you’ve lost a loved one, I hope that Cord and Lucas’s journey gives you hope and encouragement that God can make a way for your future just as He did for Cord and Lucas.

If you’d like to learn more about the McKade Law miniseries or my other books, please stop by my website at www.susansleeman.com. I also love hearing from readers, so please contact me via email, susan@susansleeman.com, on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/SusanSleemanBooks, or write to me c/o Love Inspired, HarperCollins, 24th floor, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

Susan Sleeman

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

—Job 12:10

A special thank-you to Susan Snodgrass for naming Walt’s horse Thunderbolt, and Lora Doncea for naming Winnie’s horse Sunrise.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

ONE

Some calls went wrong. Terribly wrong. Deputy Kendall McKade’s gut screamed this was one of those calls.

Take care, a warning voice whispered in her head.

Kendall didn’t like what she was seeing. Caution was the game here. Plenty of caution.

She wouldn’t race up to the front door. Burst inside to check on the seventy-four-year-old aunt her nephew was having a hard time reaching.

She climbed out of her patrol car. The steamy heat of the night hit her hard as she took a long look at the single-story home hunkered down under tall cypress trees. Overcast skies cast ominous shadows on the rural property. She’d hoped for a light burning inside the house, but it was as black as the murky night clinging to the foundation.

That alone sent Kendall’s alarm bells ringing.

She reached inside her car and flicked on the headlights, flooding the area with bright light.

An older model Cadillac sat in the drive, the windows coated in thick Texas dust as if it hadn’t been driven for days. Had to be Eve Smalley’s car. Her nephew hadn’t been able to get a hold of her, and there wasn’t a family member, caretaker, housekeeper or anyone else who would be on the property. No one but Eve and her nephew had a key to the house.

A deputy made a routine morning check, but Mrs. Smalley didn’t answer the door. When they notified the nephew, he said she never went out at night and asked them to check back.

So if he was right, and she was home, why were all the lights out?

Kendall thought about her own grandmother in this situation. Her precious, sweet, dear grandmother. Maybe injured. Maybe inside, waiting for help. Or worse—maybe attacked by an intruder.

A cold knot formed in Kendall’s stomach.

“Relax,” she whispered to herself before she overreacted to the eerie night. “Her nephew was probably wrong, and she went somewhere with a friend. Or she’s already in bed.”

Kendall’s pep talk did nothing to stem her anxiety. Six o’clock was way too early for bed, even for an older woman.

Kendall slipped into her squad car and angled her computer to access the department’s record-management system. She plugged in the license plate number and waited. The screen filled with information, and Kendall quickly scanned the data.

Just as she’d thought. The car belonged to Mrs. Smalley. She should be home, so there could be trouble inside. Kendall reached for her radio to communicate with dispatch.

“221.” She gave her uniform number. “I need the information for the deputy dispatched this morning to the Smalley residence.”

“Copy,” the dispatcher said, and silence followed for a moment. “221, deputy 228 responded to the call.”

“Copy.” Kendall reached for her cell phone in the pocket of her vest. She didn’t have to look up the deputy’s number to get a name. She knew it well. It belonged to her cousin, Deputy Dylan McKade, who was off duty now. She dialed his personal cell and waited for him to answer.

“What’s up, cuz?” he asked.

“I’m calling about the welfare check you did this morning for Eve Smalley. I’m following up at her residence now and wondered if you found anything odd when you were here.”

“Yeah, maybe.” His cheery tone evaporated. “The car was in the drive. Didn’t look like it’d been driven in some time, but she didn’t answer the door. I looked in the windows and saw nothing odd. Both doors were locked. There wasn’t any sign of foul play, so I couldn’t enter the home. I asked the desk sergeant to follow up with the nephew.”

“That’s why I’m here now. Nephew says the aunt doesn’t go out at night and asked us to check back, but the car’s here, and there aren’t any lights on.”

“Doesn’t sound good.” Dylan’s alarming tone raised Kendall’s concern even more. “Maybe we can get the nephew to drive over from Houston.”

Kendall swallowed down her worry. “No point in making him do so if it’s a false alarm. I’ll take a good look around first.”

“Let me know what happens, okay?”

“Sure thing.” She disconnected and stowed her phone.

She took her car keys and closed the door, leaving the vehicle running to keep the lights trained on the house. Their squad cars were equipped with a Run Lock System, so if someone tried to steal the car and engaged either the hand or foot brake, the engine immediately cut out.

She pocketed her keys, snapped off the safety strap on her holster and cautiously approached the door. She pounded hard, and her training kicked in, forcing her to stand next to the door and out of the line of fire should there be an altercation.

Kendall listened carefully—cicadas buzzing in the woods was the only sound—and then knocked again. “Mrs. Smalley, Deputy McKade here. I need to talk to you.”

A faint rustling came from inside. She waited for the door to open. It didn’t. Had she wanted the woman to be home so badly that she imagined the sound?

She pounded harder. No one came to the door. She twisted the doorknob. Locked. Time for that look around the property.

She made her way to the side of the house, running the flashlight over thick shrubs hugging the foundation. A soft breeze played across the yard but did nothing to lessen the eighty-degree temperature, raised another five degrees by heavy humidity.

Kendall stopped at the first window and peered in but saw nothing in the darkness beyond the first few feet of wood flooring. Easing ahead, her back against the house for protection, she glanced in the next window near the rear of the unfenced yard. She pressed her hands against the glass and rested her face on them. A man’s silhouette flashed in the distance, then was swallowed up by the darkness.

What in the world? No one else had a key. Or should be there.

Instincts had Kendall shooting back and grabbing her radio. “221 requesting backup at Smalley residence. Possible intruder.”

“Copy,” the dispatcher said.

A loud crash sounded inside. A shot of adrenaline hit Kendall hard. Indecision followed.

She should wait for backup. No, she couldn’t. Not when this older woman could be hurt. Maybe in danger. The home was located on the far-north side of their county. It could be ten minutes or more before backup arrived, and Mrs. Smalley could be dead by then.

Kendall lifted her gun and flashlight, then eased ahead. She swung around the rear wall and took three steps up to a deck. She turned the knob on the back door. Unlocked.

Odd. Dylan said it had been locked that morning.

Kendall scanned the wood and doorjamb—saw no sign of forced entry, but the intruder could’ve come in a window. She pushed the door open and stepped off to the side to listen.

Silence reigned. No movement.

“Police!” she shouted. “Show yourself. Come to the door with your hands on your head.”

She waited. Counting.

One. Two. Three. Going higher and higher. Hitting twenty.

“This is your last warning,” she called out. “Show yourself with hands on your head.”

No sound. No movement.

She stepped to the door. Shone her light inside. Paused. Assessed.

The kitchen lay ahead. A door on the far wall led out of the room. She ran her flashlight over the space. Old cabinets. A small table. Worn flooring with a large puddle of dried blood.

Blood. There was blood. Something bad had happened here. Not just now, as the blood had dried. But it had happened.

Disturbing images built in Kendall’s mind, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She held up her service weapon. Her heart thumping, she stepped in and headed toward the door.

Silently. Slowly. Cautiously.

She pointed her flashlight into the opening before she moved forward and put herself in a vulnerable position. The hallway stood ahead of her, with several large openings on each side. Keeping her gun raised, she entered.

She turned to clear the room on the right and took a few steps into a dining room. All clear.

The floorboards creaked behind her.

She spun around. Her flashlight beam illuminated a man in his thirties with a surprised look on his face. He lifted his arms overhead. She tried to move back. Was too slow. He swung a heavy wooden rolling pin with gloved hands, hitting her square in the forehead.

A razor-sharp jolt of pain bored into her head, and a wave of dizziness hit her hard. She wobbled. Reached out to grab the wall. Couldn’t find it and lurched to the side. She felt her body crumpling. Slowly. Dropping to the floor.

No. No. You have to stay up.

A karate chop hit her arm, and her gun skittered away.

She was helpless now. Unarmed, with an intruder standing over her.

No, God, please no.

She crashed to the floor.

Get your gun. Now, before he does. Find it. Protect yourself.

She tried to lift her arm but a black curtain closed over her eyes. She was in extreme danger, and she could do nothing to stave off the darkness.

Her world faded to black.

Detective Cord Goodwin didn’t like what he was seeing.

A deputy was at his aunt’s house. Fine. Good, even. He’d been trying to get ahold of Eve, and she didn’t answer her phone. That was unlike her, so he’d asked the sheriff’s department to do a welfare check and they didn’t find her at home. They’d promised to come back out that night. He’d just been too worried not to come in person, so the minute he could get away from his job as a homicide detective to make the drive from Houston, he did. He’d expected to find Eve home. Hoped to find her, at least. But the house was black as the night, a patrol vehicle running in the drive and no sign of the deputy. That he didn’t expect.

There was only one thing to do about it—check it out.

He removed his off-duty weapon from his ankle holster and made an entry plan. He was facing a touchy situation. He had to announce himself or the deputy might mistake him for a prowler, but if he did call out, he would distract the deputy.

Still, it was better to announce himself than to take a bullet from some rookie who might panic. Of course, it might not be a rookie. Might be someone he’d worked with when he’d been employed by the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. He could hardly believe six years had passed since then, but with very little turnover on the force, he might very well know the responding deputy.

Could even be Kendall. Wouldn’t that be something, seeing her again after all these years?

They’d dated for a month or so. Had even gotten serious. At least for him. But she was a strong, independent woman and thought he was too controlling. She was right. He’d controlled his life with an iron fist. He’d tried to change back then, many times, but he couldn’t let go of his past and couldn’t manage it. So they’d simply broken up. Maybe they could have made a go of it if they hadn’t worked in the same department. But they had and the breakup was ugly, and they couldn’t continue to see each other. With her father serving as county sheriff, Cord was the logical one to leave the department.

He landed a job as a police officer in Houston, worked his way up to detective and hadn’t seen Kendall since. Now here he was.

Could he handle running into her again? Did it matter?

If this was her cruiser, he had no choice. Something was up with Aunt Eve, and he was going to get some answers tonight, even if those answers came from Kendall.

He went to the door, keeping his head on a swivel as he walked. He’d been in law enforcement far too long to let his worry for his aunt overtake his safety training. He inserted his key in the lock and pushed the door open. It swung in with a creak that was swallowed up by chirps from the loud cicadas, which were always prevalent in August.

“Hey, anybody here?” he yelled. “It’s Cord Goodwin. Eve’s nephew and Houston police officer.”

Through the living room and down the hallway, he saw a flashlight lying on the floor, the beam pointing his way. Next to it, a body lay, unmoving.

No. No.

Eve? The deputy?

Cord’s heart constricted, and his gut knotted. He almost didn’t want to know who it was, but he had to find out.

He slipped effortlessly into his officer persona, raised his gun and eased into the house, clearing each room on the way. He wanted to move faster, but he couldn’t risk someone charging out and ending his life.

He reached the hallway. The person on the floor wore a deputy’s uniform. A woman. He squinted to make out the face.

Pain pierced his heart.

Kendall. It was Kendall lying on the floor, her eyes closed.

Please, God. Please don’t let her have sustained a life-threatening injury.

Cord grabbed the flashlight and ran the beam over her body. No bloody wounds.

Good. Good. A large bump the size of a goose egg bulged on her forehead, and his aunt’s big rolling pin lay on the floor beside her.

Kendall had been blindsided. Took a blow to the head. Better than a gunshot, he supposed.

Keeping his gun fixed forward with one hand, he squatted to check her pulse. Her skin was soft and warm, bringing back memories he’d buried deep. He shook them off and moved his fingers until he located her pulse. Strong and sure.

His heart rate slowed, and he reached for her radio. “This is off-duty Detective Cord Goodwin from Houston. You have a deputy down.” He relayed his aunt’s address.

He heard movement in the kitchen. Looked up to see a man in the shadows looking back at them. The guy suddenly bolted toward the back door.

“Stop! Police!” Cord shot to his feet.

The guy kept running. Cord charged to the door and shone the flashlight over the yard. The fleeing suspect disappeared into the woods. Cord chased after him, but once he reached the wooded area, a motorcycle roared to life.

Cord stopped. No way could he catch the suspect on a bike. Better to find Eve and help Kendall. Eve first, as he had no idea if she’d been injured, and Kendall appeared stable. Panic rioting within him, he forced it down to go back inside and search Eve’s bedroom.

He took a quick swing of the flashlight over the kitchen, coming to rest on a rusty red spot on the linoleum floor. Blood? Was that blood?

He swallowed hard and hurried across the room. Squatted. Yeah, it was, all right. As much as he didn’t want it to be, he’d seen blood far too many times in his job to question it.

He shot up and rushed out of the room. Kendall still lay on the floor. As he passed her, the urge to help her almost overpowered his concern for his aunt. Almost.

Holding his breath, he pushed into Eve’s room and flipped on the light. The room was undisturbed, the bed made, but she wasn’t there or in the spare room, either.

He sighed out a breath of relief before a bead of worry took its place. He hadn’t found Eve’s body. That was good. Really good. But Eve was still missing, there was blood in the kitchen and an intruder who was willing to kill a deputy with a rolling pin had fled the home.

Something was wrong here. Terribly wrong.

TWO

Kendall’s head swam, and a murky black pool covered her eyes. Where was she, and what had happened? She had to climb to the surface and figure it out.

She raised herself up on her elbow. The room spun, and she lowered herself down. She slowly turned her head, saw a rolling pin on the floor next to her.

Right. The intruder had hit her. Hard. So hard. She’d dropped her gun and flashlight before she tumbled to the floor. Her flashlight must have turned off when it landed, leaving the hallway dark.

Her gun.

Where was it? She had to find it.

She dug deeper for the strength to move and eased up on an elbow again. The room whirled, and her stomach heaved. She swallowed and pushed harder. Backup was on the way, but her life might depend on retrieving that gun, if the intruder hadn’t already taken it.

She got on her knees. The front door stood open and headlights beamed into the front room. Maybe the intruder fled the property through that door. She could only hope he was gone.

She swept her hands over the floor, moving sideways so she could keep an eye on both doors. In a dark corner, she hit something metal and reached out.

Yes! Her gun. She palmed it and got to her feet. She staggered down the hall. A shadow moved outside the door. The intruder? Maybe coming back?

She raised her weapon. A man stepped into the headlight beam. Not the same man who’d clocked her. This guy was taller. Broader shoulders. More foreboding. She widened her stance, wishing the room would quit spinning.

The man stepped closer.

She blinked hard and saw a gun in his hands. Her heart lurched.

“Hold it right there,” she warned. “And put your gun on the ground, nice and easy.”

“Kendall, it’s me. Cord Goodwin.” His familiar voice settled over Kendall like a soothing balm.

“Cord,” she whispered as her mind raced to find an explanation for why he was there.

Was she still sleeping? After all, she’d dreamed of him over the years, and there had been a few when he’d come to her rescue like a knight in shining armor.

A flicker of apprehension peppered her brain. “What are you doing here, Cord?”

“Eve’s my aunt.”

“But your name,” she started to say, but then realized she hadn’t seen Dylan’s report. She’d gone right to the source instead. And he hadn’t worked in the department when Cord had been on the team, so he wouldn’t think anything of seeing his name. Besides, no one, including Dylan, knew she and Cord had had a relationship. They’d kept it a secret, as it was frowned on for fellow deputies to date and they never got to the point where she met his family. Since Eve lived on the far side of their big county, Kendall had never run into her.

“I’m going to holster my gun now.” Cord bent, tugged up the leg of his jeans and revealed an ankle holster.

She could only stare at him as he moved with fluid and effortless grace. With the headlights glaring at her, she couldn’t see many details, but she could tell he was still broad-shouldered, had a trim waist and was well over six feet tall, something that, at her height of five-nine in bare feet, she’d once appreciated.

He rose back to his full height. “The guy who knocked you out is long gone.”

“Figured as much.” She holstered her gun, too, and as she bent to her radio to put out an alert on the guy, the world spun. She was going to fall to the ground. No way she’d embarrass herself in front of Cord. She quickly dropped onto a chair in the combination living and dining room.

She clutched the table and willed the accompanying nausea to subside before she lost the quick dinner of tacos she’d grabbed on the way out to Eve’s house. She rested her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands.

Cord came inside, flipped on a light and sat in a chair next to her.

“Look at me,” he insisted.

Right. He demanded as he always had. She would point that out, but what would arguing with him accomplish?

She faced him, thankful her stomach was no longer churning. Blue eyes the color of her sapphire birthstone locked on her, sending a shock of awareness through her body. She’d never been able to resist those eyes. Or that chiseled face.

He took her chin in his fingers and tilted her head to stare into her eyes. That familiar warmth of his touch and the concern in his gaze fired off the few senses that still lay dormant. Nothing new. He got to her as usual.

The urge to jerk free and take off before he could hurt her again was nearly overwhelming, but she held still and had to admit she liked the feel of his fingers against her skin.

“Looks like you have no problem focusing.” He released her chin. “That’s a good sign.”

“It’s just a bump.”

“Hah! A bump. More like a mountain protruding from your forehead.” He sat back, his eyes narrowing even more. “So, I searched the house for Eve. She’s not here. There’s blood in the kitchen. Can you shed any light on where she is?”

“No. I knocked on the front door. No answer, but your aunt’s car was here. I looked in the windows, saw someone moving in the house and then heard a crash. I was worried for Eve, so I called for backup. But like I said, I didn’t want to wait, so I entered through the back door. The guy hit me with a rolling pin, and the last thing I remember before waking up was dropping to the floor.”

He frowned. “Did you get a good look at him?”

“Yeah. Good enough to have a sketch made. I can arrange to meet with an artist first thing in the morning.” Kendall watched Cord for a moment, and the magnitude of his aunt being missing finally hit her. “I’m sorry about your aunt. You must be freaking out.”

He nodded.

“Are there...any other relatives or children we should notify?”

“Just me.”

Odd. He didn’t mention his parents, but maybe he’d already called them. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “In person? Ten days or so. But I spoke to her on the phone four days ago. She said she needed to talk to me, but she had to see me in person. I couldn’t get away.”

He shook his head and clenched his fists on the table. “She probably wanted to tell me what was going on. About whatever caused her to go missing. But I was too busy. I’m a detective now and was buried in a murder investigation. I said I’d call her back and now I can’t reach her. If I’d known... This is all my fault.”

“No. No, it’s not, and beating yourself up won’t help find her.” Kendall started to reach out a hand to cover his hand, but a siren in the distance caught her attention.

What? No way. Her backup wouldn’t come racing up to the house with sirens running. The responding deputy couldn’t know the suspect was gone and wouldn’t risk alerting him that backup had arrived.

“That’ll be your dad,” Cord said. “Or your brothers.”

She blinked a few times as she tried to process his comment. “Why would you think that?”

“I used your radio to report you down, and we both know every McKade within radio range will be on their way here.”

She sighed. He was right. Her father was sheriff, her brother a deputy and her sister a crime scene investigator. Not to mention two cousins were deputies, too. She took a long, slow breath and mentally prepared herself for the arrival of her overprotective family as sirens wailed closer.

It was only moments until that family member, likely her father, rushed into the house. He’d treat her like his little girl instead of the deputy and aspiring detective she’d become. She wished he wouldn’t do so, but she understood. He was a good father, and the worry carried over to the job. At least he didn’t call her “Peanut” like he did with her younger sister, Tessa.

Regardless, Kendall wasn’t going to let her father find her sitting here instead of working the scene. She didn’t want to disappoint him, but also, Eve was missing and it was Kendall’s job to find her.

She pushed to her feet and held on to the back of the chair to wait out a rush of dizziness. As long as she didn’t make any sudden movements, she should be able to hold up under her father’s scrutiny long enough to ease his concern and convince him to leave. Then she could get started on the investigation without him hovering over her.

“You’re not fooling anyone, you know.” Cord rose to his full height, and she couldn’t help but remember when she’d had bad days at work, how he’d held her against that firm chest and the world had righted itself again. “You’re injured, and you’ll have to let the medics take a look at you. Maybe head to the ER to get checked out.”

“I’m fine,” she said, but he could be right. Still, she would seek medical attention because she knew it was the right thing, not because Cord or her father insisted on it.

She’d had a lifetime of overprotective men. Her dad. Older brother, Gavin. Even Matt, who was a year younger. The McKade men couldn’t help it. They were fierce defenders, and that meant they wouldn’t back down and let the women in their lives get hurt. So they took charge.

“Man,” Cord said. “Whatever I said has you seriously upset. You’re working your jaw like crazy.”

“It’s nothing.” Headlights joined hers in the driveway, and she turned to watch for the first McKade to arrive.

Her father came barreling through the door. Six foot two, he was still fit and trim and wore his county uniform well. “Kendall, honey. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Dad. Just a bump on the head.”

He took hold of her chin and studied her face, the look far more clinical than when Cord had examined her injury. She could feel the worry rolling off her dad in big waves, and she felt bad about getting caught up in her thoughts of Cord and not radioing in that she was okay. Her father rectified that by leaning down to his radio and reporting in. She was thankful he did so, as that meant the rest of the marauding McKades wouldn’t show up.

He pinned his focus on her again. “You’ll let the medics check you out.”

“No problem,” she said, though inside she cringed at his demanding tone.

Cord snorted.

Her father released her chin and shot Cord a look. “Cord Goodwin. Well, I’ll be. Didn’t expect to see you in Lake County again.”

“This is my aunt Eve’s house.”

“She okay?”

“She’s missing, and we found blood in the kitchen.”

Her father clapped Cord on the back. “I’m real sorry to hear that, son.”

Her father had always liked Cord and had taken it hard when he’d left. Not that her dad knew the real story. Cord thought it best not to bring his personal life into the job and explain that he had to leave because emotions were running high with her. So he’d said he was looking for a different challenge.

“I’ll get a team out here,” her father said. “And we’ll do a grid search of the immediate area.”

Cord’s face paled, but he didn’t say anything. What could he say? Her father basically said that he thought Eve might be hurt or dead somewhere nearby. Either thought had to be messing with Cord’s emotions. She wished she could provide some comfort—offer the reassurance that she might offer another family member, but as a detective, Cord knew all too well that his aunt could be in peril. Her best way to help him was to do her job and do it well.

“Our suspect is long gone,” she said. “But I can put out a clear description on him.”

“You got a good look at him?” Her father’s eyes widened.

She nodded and radioed in the suspect’s details as her father frowned at her.

The moment she finished with dispatch, her father took a step closer to her. “As much as getting a look at the suspect will help the investigation, I don’t like the sound of it. He might panic and want to silence you.”

She hadn’t thought of that, but she wasn’t going to let fear get in the way of investigating her first case. “Then the sooner I figure out his identity and where Eve is, the better. I’ll get started investigating right away.”

“Wait, what?” Cord shot her a look. “You’re investigating? I don’t understand.”

She faced him. “Dad’s retiring, and Matt’s running for sheriff. He’s on a leave of absence to work on the campaign. If all goes well, he’ll be taking over Dad’s spot in a few months, and I’ll be stepping into his detective role. So I’m handling investigations in his absence.”

“No. No.” Cord shook his head hard. “I can’t have a rookie detective in charge of finding my aunt.”

Before Kendall could offer a rebuttal, he swung his gaze to her father. “You have another detective, a more seasoned one, who could work this investigation, right?”

“I do.” Her father faced her, and he didn’t have to say a word. His apologetic expression said it all. He was going to side with Cord. “What with your injury and the potential for this suspect to come gunning for you, maybe it’s a good idea for you to sit this out, honey.”

How could he take Cord’s side, and equally as bad, talk to her like she was still a little girl?

“Honey. No. No. You wouldn’t call Matt ‘honey.’ It’s Kendall or Deputy McKade. But not ‘honey.’” She crossed her arms, anger starting to mount. “I caught this case fair and square, and it will be mine. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have any experience. I’ve worked with the tri-county cybercrimes task force for five years and successfully headed up complicated investigations.”

She saw Cord curl his fingers on one hand and shove the other in his hair that was the color of wheat bread, but with blonde highlights from all the time he spent outside. At least she thought he was still an outdoors kind of guy, but then she didn’t know him anymore, now did she? She did know the old Cord would have made the same suggestion and maybe even gone a step further to actually find a way to have her removed.

He released his hair and looked at her dad. “I have an idea, Sheriff. I have some vacation time coming. I could take time off to work alongside Kendall. I’ve been a detective for four years now and might even be able to teach her a thing or two.”

“No.” She couldn’t work with Cord. The attraction was still there, and he’d just proved he hadn’t changed. He was still too controlling for her liking.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” her father said. “Nothing better than getting firsthand training.”

“Cord is not going to be training me,” she said through clenched teeth.

“You’re right.” His lips quirked up in a devastatingly handsome smile. “But if you learn something along the way, what’s the harm in that?”

“Good.” Her dad clapped his hands. “It’s all settled, then. You and Cord will partner on this investigation.”

Wait, what? Settled?

Right. She’d failed to reaffirm her stance of not wanting to work with him. She’d only voiced her unwillingness to let him take over as her trainer, and her dad took that as acceptance. Now there was no changing his mind. Not when he was even more stubborn than she was.

She fixed her gaze on Cord. “This is my county. I’m in charge. We do what I say, when I say it. No running off in your own direction and cutting me out.”

“Me?” he asked, feigning surprise. “I’d never do anything like that.”

Yeah, right. I know you, bud. Don’t forget that. How she wished she could say the words aloud, but with her father standing there, she’d have to settle for a look that put Cord in his place.

He held up his hands and took a step back. “Message received.”

Her father glanced between them. “Am I missing something here?”

“No,” they both answered at the same time.

Her dad continued to eye them, but finally shook his head and muttered, “Young people.”

A tall medic carrying a backboard stepped into the doorway, and he looked at them for direction on how to proceed.

Kendall crossed over to him. “Thanks for responding. You were called for me, but I’m fine.”

“No, she’s not.” Cord joined them.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said, keeping her focus on the medic. “I’m not going to take the time to be checked out until after this scene is processed, so you might as well take off.”

The medic glanced at her father. For her entire life, everyone had looked to her dad for answers. As a kid, she’d appreciated that. Was even glad for it a lot of the time as an adult. Just not when it came to something she could handle on her own.

Kendall met his gaze. “I’ll go to the ER when I’m done.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

“Go on, then,” he said to the medic, who all but ran from the house like a guilty child finding reprieve. Her father turned to Cord. “My wife, Winnie, would have my hide if I didn’t invite you to stay at the ranch while you’re in town.”

“I don’t know.” Cord cast Kendall a questioning look.

“I don’t think—” she got out before her dad interrupted.

“We’ve turned Trails End into a dude ranch since you lived here, and you can stay in one of the cabins.”

Kendall didn’t bother telling her father that he hadn’t checked to see if they had an opening. She was in charge of the reservations and knew they did, but she would still like to be consulted on this. On the rest of her life, too.

“I don’t think it’s such a good idea,” she said, but her father raised a bushy eyebrow.

Without knowing her history with Cord, he probably thought she was being mean-spirited over Cord wrangling his way into her investigation, but she couldn’t tell him she was just trying to preserve her sanity.

“Actually, it sounds great,” Cord said. “Six months ago, I took guardianship of my twelve-year-old nephew. I think he’d love to hang at the ranch if you wouldn’t mind. He should be fine on his own while I work with Kendall.”

Dad? Cord, a dad? Her mouth almost hit the floor. Not that she didn’t think he could be good at it. He might be controlling, but he had a warm, compassionate side, too. A side that fueled his determination to help others on the job. That was the side she’d fallen for. She’d even once thought about having kids with him someday. But that dream evaporated, as it would be hard to parent with someone who also had such an inflexible side to his personality.

Her father waved his hand. “No worries there. Someone’s always at the ranch, and he’ll have people around.”

“Then I accept.” Cord stuck out his hand.

His father shook. “When should we expect you?”

“I’ll head back to Houston to get Lucas after we finish up here and be back first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll make sure we have a cabin ready for you.” Her dad suddenly frowned. “You see that Kendall follows through on going to the ER, hear?”

“Yes, sir,” Cord said.

“And she may not like me to say this, but like I said before, this guy could come after her. Means we need to keep an eye on her, too. Just in case.”

Kendall resisted sighing. “I can take care of myself, Dad.”

“I know you think you can, but I like to be extra careful when it comes to my girls.” Her father drew her into his arms. “Thank goodness you’re all right, honey.”

She hated being treated like a helpless female in front of Cord but accepted her dad’s warm hug and didn’t try to fight. He tightened his hold, bringing back memories of the many times she’d skinned her knees as a child. Tears started pricking her eyes. She blinked hard to get control of herself before she faced Cord again.

Cord. He was back in her life. Really back in her life.

She’d thought her connection to him had ended years ago, but had it? Not if his touch told her anything. No, that said she still felt something for him, and she would need to be diligent not to wind up with a shattered heart again.

THREE

Kendall was here. His Kendall. Unbelievable.

Cord had visited Eve many times over the last six years but since she lived on the far side of the county he never visited Lost Creek to keep from running into Kendall. But now here she was. Back in his life in a big way for the unforeseeable future. Man, oh, man. That was almost as painful as not knowing where Eve was or what happened to her.

He could do something about Eve by getting to work and finding her, but these feelings for Kendall rolling around his insides like a tumbleweed on the open plains—what did he do about those?

He looked across the room, where she was talking to her sister, Tessa, in the kitchen. As a crime scene investigator, Tessa was gathering a blood sample from the linoleum floor. She’d already bagged the rolling pin, and he’d hoped she would find prints on it, but Kendall dashed that hope when she informed them that the intruder had worn gloves.

“So, you can actually tell how long that blood has been there?” Kendall asked.

“Yes, with reflectance spectroscopy and spectral imaging, hence my equipment.”

“And do you know yet?”

“A little less than three days. And there are signs of the blood spurting here, too, which means this was active bleeding, not postmortem.”

Tessa’s response nearly stopped Cord’s heart. He didn’t want to even contemplate that Eve had died, but he had to accept it was a possibility. And if Tessa was right, the blood was from the day after he’d last talked to Eve. If only he’d gone to see her.

“So Eve was alive three days ago,” Kendall confirmed.

“Honestly,” Tessa replied, “though we can assume this is Eve’s blood, we don’t know that yet. Shoot, I don’t even know if it’s human.”

“But you think it is?”

“Sure, just like you do, but there’s no proof until I get these samples to the lab.” Tessa sighed. “I can tell you the blood isn’t from a gunshot. The spatter pattern suggests a knife wound.”

Had his aunt been knifed, or did she knife her attacker? If so, it wasn’t the guy Cord chased, as that guy didn’t appear to be suffering from a stab wound that would have left a large pool of blood on the floor.

“And you’ll run this for DNA in case this is the intruder’s blood, and we get a hit in the database?” Kendall asked.

“Of course, and I’ll try to get Dad or Matt to move it up in the lab’s priority list.”

When Cord had worked for Lake County, the department didn’t have the capability to process DNA. He thought maybe that would’ve changed with Tessa coming on board, but getting a lab certified for DNA was quite an undertaking, and he doubted they needed to run it often enough to make it worth her effort.

“Let me know if you find anything else,” Kendall said.

“You know it’s going to take all night to do this house and then the outside in the morning, right?” Tessa sounded like she wanted to quit talking and get to work.

“I do.” Kendall turned to stare out the back door, at the deputies engaged in the search for Eve.

He ran his gaze over Kendall. She was tall and lean but curvy in the right places. And she still filled out her navy-blue uniform in a way that made him think of anything except that she was a deputy. She often complained about how hard she had to work to be taken seriously by people she stopped in the course of a day. As a male law enforcement officer, he couldn’t understand that, but he did get it as the guy who couldn’t stop looking at her.

That was how they’d gotten together. She’d caught him watching her all the time at briefings and finally told him off. He apologized, and before he knew it, he was kissing her in the break room—her dad’s office right down the hall. Cord must’ve had a death wish to even think about going against her father’s belief that fellow officers shouldn’t date, as that was the only thing that could explain his actions back then.

And his actions tonight. What could explain how he’d basically run roughshod over her, doubting her abilities and taking over her investigation? His concern for his aunt was the only answer. His gut was filled with concern, but that wasn’t Kendall’s fault.

She deserved an apology. And an explanation.

She turned and caught his focus on her, and their gazes locked. She frowned and marched in his direction. “Still watching, I see. Some things don’t change, do they?”

“Sorry,” he said and left it at that. “I wanted to apologize for taking over here. I just want to help my aunt, and I know I succeeded in making things worse for you.”

Kendall pinched the bridge of her nose as if it helped stem an ache. He had to assume she was exhibiting physical pain and not pain from seeing him again, as she was the one who’d broken up with him. Still, it probably wasn’t any more comfortable for her to run into him than it was for him to see her.

“Look.” He stopped in front of her and caught a hint of vanilla from her shampoo, something else that hadn’t changed in years. “It’s not that I don’t think you’ll be a great detective. I do, especially once you have some experience under your belt. It’s just that we’re talking about my aunt here. She’s always been special to me. Now that my brother and parents are gone...”

He let his words trail off and shrugged. Even six months later, he still couldn’t talk about the loss of his family.

“Your family? All of them.” Her frustration vanished from her expression. “What happened?”

“Plane crash...six months ago,” was all he could get out over the lump in his throat that always came when he talked about them.

“Oh, Cord.” She rested a hand on his arm, and her sympathetic gaze met his, making it even harder to imagine speaking of his loss without losing it. “I’m so sorry. I know you were close to your family and losing them must be so hard.”

Her soft, compassionate tone was nearly his undoing, and feelings he’d fought hard against for months rushed to the surface. He swallowed them down before he started blubbering like a little baby. “It’s harder on my nephew, Lucas. His parents appointed me guardian in their will, and the court approved it. I’m in the process of officially adopting him, but he’s still totally lost. No matter what I do, I can’t reach him or help him.”

She squeezed his arm and released it. “I’m sure if you give him time.”

“Nah, that’s not going to help.” Cord shook his head. “Lucas thinks it’s my fault they died. I was supposed to be on that plane instead of his parents. I caught a big homicide case at the last minute, and Jace went in my place. He took his wife, Annaliese, along for a couples’ weekend.”

“But it isn’t your fault.”

“Isn’t it?” He fisted his hands. “You and I always put work first. Before relationships. I didn’t realize what a fool I was until I lost my family. Now I would give anything to have them back.”

She watched him, her eyes dark and appraising. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He really wanted to know, but he wouldn’t ask. Not now. Maybe never, as that would mean they still had some sort of a connection, and she’d ended that when she’d broken things off with him. Besides, now wasn’t the time to get into some deep conversation about their past. Now was the time to focus on locating Eve.

He firmed his resolve. “We need to get to work and find my aunt.”

Kendall nodded but quickly pushed on her nose again, pain racing across her face.

He hated that she was hurting and wished he could do something about it. “You don’t always have to be so tough, you know?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re in pain. I can see that from the way you keep pressing on your nose, but you won’t admit it. It’s only your sister and me here, so you can let go.”

She lowered her hand and lifted her shoulders. “When you’re a woman in law enforcement, you have to be tough.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s harder for you. But still, it’s just Tessa and me in the house. What can we do to help?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “I’ll grab some aspirin from my car when I get my notepad and supplies. I’m also going to check the mailbox.”

She turned to leave.

“Wait. I’ll do it.”

She sighed and looked back. “Look. It’s going to get annoying pretty fast if you don’t trust me to do anything on my own.”

“No. That’s not it. I was thinking about what your dad said. You saw the intruder’s face. He can’t be too happy about that and could try to take you out again.”

She frowned. “Do you really think that’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve seen it often enough in my job that we have to believe it’s a real possibility.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Even if it is, he’s not going to be out front waiting for me. Not with a law enforcement presence here tonight.”

“I’d agree with you, except I also know that many criminals often aren’t the brightest of people. When they panic, they do stupid things, and this guy has got to be pretty panicked right now.”

She stared ahead as if processing. “Fine. Your point is valid. You can come with me. I’ll grab the things from my car, and you can get the mail.”

He nodded and followed her firm march toward the door. She’d worked hard in her early years on patrol to develop a tough-guy persona. She was so driven to succeed, and he’d always thought it came from being the second born in the family. She had a lot of the same traits as Jace, who was younger than Cord. Correction—had been younger—something Cord still could barely comprehend.

Kendall stopped in the doorway to look around. Good. She was taking the threat to her life seriously. Cord hadn’t wanted to scare her, but the threat was very real.

Her hand on her sidearm, she made her way to her car, and he retrieved the mail. Back in the house, he dropped the stack on the dining table and sat to flip through it. Older postmarked letters mixed with more current ones, and some of the advertising flyers were outdated. Clearly, Eve hadn’t been home in some time. At least not in three days, as the blood would indicate.

“Tell me about Eve,” Kendall said, but didn’t sit. “What kind of things does she like to do away from home?”

“She volunteers at her church, Cumberland Community, and at the animal shelter. She lost her dog a year ago. She didn’t want to commit to a new one just yet but wanted to spend time with them.”

Kendall wrote in her notebook. “Does she have any close friends?”

He nodded. “But I hate to admit I don’t remember their names. I met them at her church once.”

“We should start by interviewing them first thing in the morning.” Kendall sat and added something else to her notebook. She looked up, her expression still pinched. “I saw a computer in the other room.”

Right. Kendall loved working with computers and had attended college part-time to earn her computer forensics degree so, as she said, she could bring her father and the department into this century when it came to the digital age. “About that. Did you finish your degree?”

She started to nod, but then winced and stopped. “Once I make detective, I hope I’ll be able to use that knowledge more.”

She sounded as enthusiastic as she had back in the day. She loved law enforcement and technology but didn’t want to have to choose between them for her career, so she pursued the degree and figured she’d be able to employ both areas at work.

“Do you know if Eve has an online presence?” she asked, keeping them on track.

“Facebook. She emails, too. But I think that’s the extent of her computer activities.”

“Let me see if I can find her last Facebook post.” Kendall picked up her phone and tapped the screen.

“I had a friend make sure Eve had strict privacy settings, so I honestly hope you can’t see it.”

Kendall frowned. “Several Eve Smalleys listed but not your aunt.”

“That’s odd. I’ve never seen her account, because I don’t use Facebook, but I know she uses it regularly. Try adding her maiden name—Watson.”

Kendall started typing. “Yes. Here it is. Eve Watson Smalley.”

Kendall kept tapping the screen but she soon sighed. “Just as you said. Her security is blocking everything but the fact that she has an account.” She looked up at him. “We can ask her friends at church if they’re online friends, too, and we can see her posts that way. Can you think of anyone else who might be her friend?”

He almost said his mother, as he still had moments when he forgot she was gone and he could pick up the phone and call her.

“My mom was friends with Eve, but I had her account closed after she died,” he said and tried not to sound as sad as he felt. “I suppose we could ask Facebook to activate it again, but that would be as complicated as asking for access to Eve’s account.”

“She might be logged in on her computer, but I don’t want to turn it on here. If we’re dealing with foul play, I need to image the hard drive first. I’ll take it into evidence and review the files then.”

She didn’t need to explain her process. If his aunt had come to any harm, the computer could hold evidence. But if Kendall turned it on now and performed a search, it would alter the state of the hard drive, calling every bit of information it held into question in a court of law. So Kendall had to take a sort of snapshot of the hard drive to preserve it, and then she could look at that image.

He could hardly even believe he was having to think about such things regarding his aunt. How could something like this happen?

He stared over Kendall’s shoulder at the black of night outside the window. Was Eve out there? In danger? His gut churned. He couldn’t lose another family member. He just couldn’t. And then there was Lucas. He would totally freak out.

Cord almost sighed but caught himself. He still hadn’t recovered from becoming an instant dad. Much less a dad of a kid who hated him. Cord loved Lucas, and at the same time his heart broke for the boy, but each moment was a struggle with him. Cord wanted at least one thing to go right between them so he could feel some sense of knowing he was doing the right thing by his nephew.

“Cord? Is everything all right?” Kendall rested her hand on his shoulder.

He shook off his thoughts and looked up to find her carefully watching him. He didn’t want to burden her with his struggle. “I’m fine. What’s next?”

“I know the answer to this will be no,” she said. “Or you would’ve already mentioned it. But I have to ask. Do you know of anyone who would want to harm Eve?”

“No. She’s a sweetheart.”

Kendall cast him a skeptical look.

“I get it. You have to doubt my answer. I would too if I was doing the questioning, but she really is just a sweet old lady. Unless she got into some trouble that I don’t know about. Maybe that thing she wanted to talk to me about, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her.”

Kendall tapped her pen on the notepad. “Does she have a cell phone, or do you call the house?”

“The house. She has one of those emergency phones, but she never turns it on.” He gave Kendall the cell and home phone numbers, as she would want to request the call records.

She jotted them down. “Okay, so motive. You said no one wanted to harm her, but does she have a sizeable bank account that someone might try to get their hands on?”

“I don’t know about sizeable, but she didn’t have to worry about money. Her husband, Oliver—Ollie to his friends—passed away three years ago. They never had children of their own. He made a good living in oil and left a generous insurance policy. Plus, she’s a retired teacher and has a nice pension.”

And a wonderful woman he’d spent many weekends with growing up. Hunting and fishing with Ollie and eating Eve’s amazing cookies and playing board games with both of them. And then when Ollie passed, making sure Cord paid her back for everything she’d done for him by just being there for her.

“We need to get a look at her bank account,” Kendall said.

“Won’t be a problem. I have power of attorney. I’ll bring the paperwork back with me in the morning.”

Kendall nodded, a quick, concise tip of her head that ended in a grimace of pain. She started to lift her hand toward her face but caught herself and stopped. “Is there anything else I should know?”

He shook his head. “At least not that I know of.”

She sat down. “Are you familiar enough with Eve’s belongings that you’d know if anything was missing?”

“You thinking a burglary gone wrong?”

“No. That wouldn’t explain why Eve is missing.”

Unless...

Kendall didn’t say the word, but her expression matched his gut feel as a detective. It could be a burglary if the intruder had hurt Eve and got rid of her body, then felt free to search the house because he knew she wasn’t coming home.

It took a callous person to hurt an older woman and then invade her home. Callous and dangerous, making it even more likely that the creep could come after Kendall, and Cord would now have a second job in Lost Creek.

Sure, he needed to find his aunt as much as he needed to breathe, but in addition to that, he would be watching Kendall’s back. Even if she balked at his every move.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.